Day One of Summer Internship

Initially, I was so set on doing something in my life in the field of Psychology. I often got asked if I could see myself doing anything other than Psychology and I immediately thought to myself, What else would I even do? I also heard from a lot of different people that it's really common to change to your major around, especially in your first and second year. Once again, I thought I wasn't going to be that person to do that. Psychology was what I wanted to do without a doubt. Well, things sure changed because I ended up changing my major at the end of my first semester to Digital Arts, Media Studies, and Journalism. A little bit different, right? Even though I had a lot of interest in Psychology, I didn't want it to be my primary focus, but I still wanted to take a lot of classes in it to expand my knowledge in the subject. I decided to declare Psychology as my minor.

While busy gaining experience for my MJD major by starting the HerCampus branch for Saint Michael's along with my friend Alex, I figured doing an internship dealing with Psychology would give me a chance to explore my minor. Yesterday, I started my first day at my internship where I am a co-facilitator of a group therapy session that revolves around kids from 6 to 12 years old who are dealing with divorce and loss. As a co-facilitator, I help out during group activities and discussions. Since it was the first session, there wasn't a lot of in depth discussions about why everyone was there. Instead, my instructor and I focused on icebreakers to make sure everyone felt comfortable with one another. After everyone introduced themselves, there was a fun filled activity up next that helped everyone open up. The activity first required that the group made up a name for themselves. After a lot of crazy name throwing around from The Avengers to the Cow Mooers, everyone thought the best name was The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies (kids really are so creative as I would have never even thought of that.) Then, together the kids and I created a flag that had the group name and a personal drawing or signature on it from everyone in the group. It was interesting to see that even though the activity was fun, it showed a serious side to the kids from some of the things they ended up drawing.

Honestly, it was an awesome first day because I got to understand a lot about how counseling works. You can't expect to have someone tell you everything about their situation the first day you meet them. It's a growing process and I can't wait to see not only myself grow throughout this experience, and also the kids I am working with!